Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use. You will probably be able to understand most of the grammar in these example sentences, but some of the sentences might use grammar from later lessons. Use these sentences to give yourself a feel for how each word can be used.

A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.

Notes: The word “내용” in Korean is much more common than the English word “contents.” 내용 is broadly used to refer to the “contents” in a book, video, story, or any other source of information. In Korean, it would be common to say something like “저는 그 영화의 내용을 안 좋아했어요” which would translate to “I didn’t like that movie’s content.” In English, it would be more common to just say “I didn’t like that movie.”

Examples:
저는 어려운 내용을 천천히 설명했어요 = I explained the difficult content slowly
시험을 보기 전 날에 내용을 복습해야 돼요 = I need to review the content on the day before the exam
시간이 부족해서 모든 내용을 가르칠 수 없어요 = I can’t teach all the material because there is a lack of time
학생들이 그 내용을 중학교 때 이미 배웠잖아 = You should know that the students already learned that content in middle school!

Notes: This word means both “technology” and “skill.” A lot of the times when a word has two difference meanings, their respective Hanja equivalents are different. 기술 is one word, that means both “technology” and “skill.” It doesn’t make sense to me either. The context can tell you what translation should be best.

For example, when used to mean “technology:”
지난 50년 동안 과학 기술은 사람들의 생각을 많이 변화시켰어요
= Technology has really changed the way people think over the past 50 years

다음 10년의 의료기술개발은 대한민국에 중요하다
= The development of medical technology over the next 10 years is important to Korea

On the other hand, when used to mean “skill”
저는 학생들이 과학에 관심이 생기게 하는 기술이 없어요
= I don’t have the skills to make students interested in Science

학교를 다닐 때 실용적인 기술을 많이 배우는 게 아주 중요해요
= It is important to learn practical skills when you attend school

Notes: The word “음력” is used to refer to the lunar calendar (with is semi-followed in Korea, especially by the older generation), and “양력” technically refers to the solar calendar. The word “달력” is used to refer to the actual book of the calendar.

Examples:
대부분 간호사들은 여자예요 = Most nurses are women
그 사람은 간호사인 것 같아요 = That person seems to be a nurse
캐나다에서는 간호대학을 졸업하자마자 간호사 일자리를 잡을 수 있어요 = In Canada, as soon as you graduate from nursing school/college, you can find a position as a nurse

Common Usages:
법원 = a court of law
문법 = grammar (literally – writing laws)
법칙 = a law (usually in science or mathematics, for example: “the law of conservation of mass”
법을 시행하다 = to enforce a law
법을 어기다 = to break a law
법을 개정하다 = to change/amend a law
법을 따르다 = to follow a law

Examples:
시민들은 법을 따라야 돼요 = Citizens must follow the law
법을 어기면 벌금을 내야 되거나 징역선고를 받을 수도 있다 = When you break the law a fine has to be paid, or there is also the possibility of receiving a prison sentence

The pronunciation of this word is closer to “발키다”
The adjective form of this word (“밝다”) translates to “to be bright”

Notes: This word is used when making something brighter. For example:
저는 불을 밝혔어요 = I brightened the light (turned it up higher)

However, in this same sense it can be used to refer to “brightening” a situation with more information. This is commonly translated to “reveal.” For example:
쿠바가 대통령이 죽었다는 비밀을 밝혔다 = Cuba revealed the secret that their president died

More examples:
저는 제가 하고 싶은 것을 밝혔어요 = I revealed/disclosed what I want to do
Hillary Clinton이 미국대통령에 출마할 거라는 사실을 밝혔어요 = Hillary Clinton revealed that she will run for president of the United States

Notes: This can be used in a variety of situations, each with the same general meaning of something “passing by.” It is often used after an indication of time, for example:

그때부터 시간이 많이 지났어요 = A lot of time has passed since then
Notice here that ~이/가 should be placed on the indication of time.

It can also be used to indicate that one has passed a location. For example:
우리는 30분 전에 그 도시를 지났어요 = We passed that city 30 minutes ago
Notice here that ~을/를 should be placed on the location

Common Usages:
지나가다 = to go past

Examples:
건물을 지나가서 오른 쪽으로 가세요 = Go past the building, then go right
그 일을 다 마치더라도 이미 기한이 지났어요 = Even if I finish all of that work, the deadline is already passed
우리는 3년이 지나도록 못 만났어요 = We haven’t met in so long it has been 3 years since we met
아들은 아빠를 보고 그를 알아보지 못하는 듯이 그냥 지나갔어요 = He looked at his father and walked past him as if he didn’t recognize him

Notes: 그만하다 is usually used when something/somebody stops something that they will likely not continue again in the future (or somebody hopes that they will not continue it in the future). A good example is when stopping a vehicle. Of course, a vehicle will eventually start again, especially in the situations when riding a bus and the bus always stops and starts again. When describing this, 멈추다 should be used. For example:

버스가 멈추면 문이 완전히 열릴 때까지 기다리세요 = Wait for the door to open completely when the bus stops

내년에도 이렇게 행복하게 엄마와 소중한 시간을 보내고 싶다!
= I want to spend precious time like this with my mother next year too!

처음에는 혼자 여행을 갈까 생각했지만, 친구와 함께 소중한 추억을 만드는 것도 좋은 생각 인 것 같아서 친구에게 먼저 물어보기로 했다
= At first, I was thinking about going traveling by myself, but the thought of making precious memories with a friend is good too, so I decided to first ask a friend (if she would like to go with me)

Use verbs to describe nouns to make sentences like this:
저는 과학을 좋아하는 여자들을 좋아해요 = I like girls who like Science

Now, let’s build on what you learned and apply the ~는 것 principle in other ways.

Describe Past Tense with ~던 and ~았/었던

Before I even begin this lesson, I want to point out that I will be describing things that most Korean people can’t distinguish. When learning about subtle differences in a foreign language, it is often difficult to fully grasp because native speakers of that language can intuitively feel the difference, but not express it. I will do my best to describe this feeling, but keep in mind that most Korean people probably would probably have difficulty expressing what I will attempt to describe in this lesson.

For a long time now, you have been able to describe upcoming nouns with adjectives. For example:

예쁜 여자 = pretty girl
똑똑한 학생 = smart student
나쁜 선생님 = bad teacher

In the previous lesson, you learned to describe upcoming nouns with verbs. For example, in the present tense:

As you learned in the previous lesson (and as you can see in the two example sentences immediately above), you can attach ~ㄴ/은 to the stem of a verb to describe an upcoming noun in the past tense.

In addition to ~ㄴ/은, there are other ways that you can describe upcoming nouns in the past tense. The two additional ways to describe an upcoming noun in the past tense include the grammatical principle ~더~. Notice that there is a “~” both before and after the syllable “더.” I include ~ both before and after to “더” to indicate that not only is ~더~ attached to things, but things are also attached to it.

~더~ is a fairly advanced grammatical principle and has multiple applications. I discuss ~더~ and introduce the various ways that it can be used in the later lessons of Unit 5; where I introduce ~던가 (Lesson 117), ~더라 (Lesson 118) and ~더니 (Lesson 120). For now, I will concentrate on the nuance that ~더~ adds by showing you how it can be used to describe an upcoming noun.

When you see ~더~ used as part of a grammatical principle, it signifies that the speaker is recalling/remembering some fact from the past that was experienced. ~더~ can be attached to the stem of a verb, and ~ㄴ/은 (the same ~ㄴ/은 that describes upcoming nouns in the past tense as learned in the previous lesson) can be attached to ~더~.

Simply put, one use is: Verb stem + ~더~ + ~ㄴ/은

What comes out is Verb stem + ~던 – and this can be used to describe an upcoming noun in the past tense. For example:

내가 입던 옷

Now, the difficult part of this lesson is trying to understand the difference between the following:

I’m not going to make full sentences yet because I’m still in the process of explaining the subtle difference between various ways to describe a noun in the past tense. Once we get all the grammar under our belt, I’ll start making real sentences.

내가 입은 옷 = The clothes I wore

내가 입던 옷 = The clothes I wore

Despite their similar (/identical) translations, there is a difference between the two constructions above.

First of all, remember that the function of ~더~ is to indicate that the speaker is recalling/remembering some fact that was experienced. In the second example, the speaker is explicitly expressing that this thought is coming from memory – something that the person remembers doing or experiencing.

The first example is just a simple fact, and this additional “memory” feeling isn’t present. This doesn’t mean that the first example above isn’t being “recalled/remembered,” it just isn’t being explicitly expressed.

I realize that this sounds ambiguous. I’ve talked about this with Korean people for years. When I try to get Korean people to explain the image they have in their brain when hearing ~더~ (and specifically ~던 compared to ~ㄴ/은) they move their hands in a way that shows that something is popping or exploding out of their head.

In theory, you could translate the usage of ~던 in a sentence differently. For example, you could say:

내가 입던 옷 = The clothes I recall wearing

However, I would never translate that sentence this way. The “recalling” feeling of ~더~ in these cases is very subtle – more of a feeling – and unless the context indicates otherwise, the focus is most likely on the clothes than on the recollection.

In addition to having this “memory from experience” feeling, the use of ~던 in the construction above indicates that an action occurred repeatedly in the past. I specifically chose the construction “내가 입던 옷” because it is an excellent example to describe this usage. The clothes that are being described are clothes that the speaker wore on multiple occasions (this makes sense, because they are clothes).

When you say “내가 입은 옷,” again, you are just stating a simple fact, and there is no additional information regarding “memory” or if you wore the clothes once, or many times. All that is being stated is that – at some time in the past, you wore those clothes – and no additional information is given. ~ㄴ/은 is a very simply way to express that you wore these clothes in the past.

So, now we know that adding ~던 gives the meaning of personal experience/memory and that the action occurred repeatedly. Knowing this, look at the following examples and think about which one would be correct:

내가 입던 옷

내가 사던 옷

In the first example, the act of “wearing” an article of clothing can happen repeatedly over time. Therefore, this construction is possible.
In the second example, the act of “buying” an article of clothing does not happen repeatedly. Once you buy one piece of clothing, you don’t buy it again. Therefore, this construction would be unacceptable (or at the very least, very uncommon)

The difference between the two constructions above clearly illustrate this “repeated” meaning of ~던. In the constructions above, I attached ~던 to two different verbs to illustrate this difference. Below, I have used the same verb, but this time have attached ~던 to the first one, and ~ㄴ/은 to the second one. Look at the following examples and think about which one would be correct:

내가 태어난 도시

내가 태어나던 도시

In the first example, ~ㄴ/은 indicates a simple past-tense fact, and there is no additional meaning attached unless implied within the sentence. Here, the speaker is describing the city as “the city that I was born in.”
In the second example, the act of “being born” cannot happen repeatedly. Therefore, I can’t imagine a situation where this would be appropriate.

I realize that I just keep piling on the meanings hidden behind ~던, but there is another subtlety that you should be aware of. When ~던 is used, we know that the speaker is recalling something from memory, and that the action occurred repeatedly in the past. It is also possible that this “repeated” action is still reoccurring into the present (or whatever current time is being described in the sentence). Unless otherwise specified in other parts of the sentence, this repeated action hasn’t been stopped and is still re-occurring.

내가 입은 옷
The speaker is describing the clothes that he wore. There is no deep/hidden/subtle meaning to it. All we know is that at some point in the past, he wore the clothes. Did he wear it often/repeatedly? Did he wear it once? Does he still wear it? Has he stopped wearing it? The answer to all of these questions is ambiguous – and rightfully so. A lot of the time in conversation you don’t need to specifically describe the noun you are talking about. Simply saying “the clothes I wore” can be sufficient. In this English sentence (“the clothes I wore”) is equally ambiguous to the sentence above.

내가 입던 옷
The speaker is describing the clothes that he recalls/remembers wearing (as is the function of ~더~). The clothes being described were worn repeatedly in the past, and are likely still presently being worn – not necessarily at this moment, but “these days” (or at whatever time is being described in the sentence) There is no specific information about whether he stopped wearing the clothes – and unless otherwise stated, he probably still wears the clothes from time to time.

With the constructions I have shown so far, there is no additional context given. In real situations with full sentences, you will most likely have additional information that will allow you to distinguish the sentence better. For example, I can put the construction above into a sentence:

In the examples above, the object is being described by some action that “I” did. I mentioned earlier that one of the subtleties of ~던 is the feeling of “remembering/recalling.” In the examples above, of course I am remembering them, because “I” am the person who performed the action. This subtle meaning of “remembering/recalling,” although present, seems irrelevant. Nonetheless, you should remember that ~더~ contains this meaning.

In situations where the object is being described by some action that another person did, the subtleties of ~던 seem more apparent. For example, I could say these sentences:

I use the present tense “come” in the English translation above. You could argue than “came” or “used to come” would be more appropriate because we are describing the person as a customer who came in the past. However, because of the context of the sentence – they also “just came in” and are probably still there now – indicating that it could be used in the present tense. Again, it is difficult to translate these sentences in English. Pay more attention to the Korean sentence and use the English translation as a reference.

Because ~던 (through the usage of ~더~) indicates that one is “remembering/recalling” something, the bread is not only “bread that Seulgi eats often” but more specifically “bread that I specifically remember/recall/experienced Seulgi eating often.”

Again, these types of translations are nonsense. I would never write a translation of these types of sentences to include “remember/recall/experienced.” It’s always better to just understand the subtle meanings that they can have and forget about English translations. I can’t really think of a great translation for ~던. If you think about it, with all you know about ~던, how would you translate the following:

내가 입던 옷

Would you translate it to:

The clothes I wore
The clothes I used to wear
The clothes often wore

These sentences could all be possible in English to describe ~던 in this case, but in my mind don’t accurately describe the subtleties that exist within ~던. To add to the confusion, there is another way to describe an upcoming noun that looks similar to ~던 and has a similar meaning. Let’s talk about this next.

———————————–

So far, you have seen how ~던 can be used to describe an upcoming noun and have compared it to ~ㄴ/은. For example:

내가 입은 옷 = The clothes I wore – (Simple description of the clothes in the past tense)
내가 입던 옷 = The clothes I wore – (Recalling/remembering the clothes that were worn repeatedly in the past and continued to the point in time being described)

It is also possible to add ~았/었~ between the verb stem and ~던. For example:

내가 입었던 옷 = The clothes I wore

Alright, now it’s time to explain the difference between ~았/었던 and ~던 or ~ㄴ/은.

When ~았/었던 is added to a verb to describe an upcoming noun, the speaker is indicating that the action has completely finished and is not currently occurring. For example, if we go back to our tried and tested example:

내가 입었던 옷
The speaker is describing the clothes that he wore in the past. Because ~더~ is included within this, the speaker is describing the clothes that he recalls/remembers. The clothes being described were worn at some time in the past (this could be indicated elsewhere in the sentence), and are not pants that the speaker wears anymore.

The meaning and feeling of ~았/었던 is similar to the meaning and feeling of ~ㄴ/은. Most Korean people would tell you at first glance that they are the same. I will do my best to distinguish them for you.

As I mentioned before, when you say “내가 입은 옷,” you are stating a simple fact, and there is no additional information regarding “memory” or if you wore the clothes once, or many times, or if you still wear those clothes these days too. All that is being stated is that – at some time in the past, you wore those clothes – and no additional information is given. ~ㄴ/은 is a very simple way to express that you wore these clothes in the past.

Saying “내가 입었던 옷” is similar, but the usage of ~더~ describes that the speaker is “remembering/recalling” this from memory/experience. Saying “내가 입었던 옷” is also specifically indicating that the action of “wearing the clothes” is finished and doesn’t happen anymore. It is possible that ~ㄴ/은 can be used to express this, but its meaning is more broad and doesn’t state this explicitly.

Korean people often incorrectly assume that the use of ~았/었던 indicates that a lot of time has passed since the last action. Many Korean people have described this to me, so it is hard to call it “incorrect” because if Korean people feel that way about their own language, than in a way, it is correct. However, the time interval from when the action stopped happening to the present time is irrelevant. For example, you could say:

오늘 아침에 입었던 바지

The use of ~았/었던 is not used to show that the pants were worn a long time ago (of course, “this morning” was not a long time ago). Rather, it is used to show that the pants were worn, and are currently not being worn anymore. If you were to say the sentence above, at some point since the morning, you would have had to change or take off the pants being described because the use of ~았/었던 indicates that you are no longer wearing them. Compare the construction above to the following:

오늘 아침에 입은 바지

Because the pants were worn (or put on) in the morning, it’s likely that you are still wearing these pants. This sentence does not explicitly state if you have taken them off or if you are still wearing them.

Below are examples of ~았/었던 in use. Notice that it is difficult to translate the nuance of ~았/었던 to English. Using the past perfect “had” is a common way to express this feeling in English, but depending on the context this doesn’t always need to be the case. When reading the sentences below, try not to pay attention to the English translations and try to remember the purpose of ~았/었던:

~ㄴ/은: Attached to a verb to describe a noun where the action occurred sometime in the past. There is no additional meaning given to it. All we know is that at some point in the past, the action happened.

~던: Attached to a verb to describe a noun where the action is recalled to have occurred repeatedly in the past, and continually repeating to the present (or to the time described in the sentence).

~았/었던: Attached to a verb to describe a noun where the action is recalled to have occurred in the past, but has finished occurring and currently does not occur.

I don’t like distinguishing these grammatical principles based on their English translations. Given the number of possible situations that could come up, there is no perfect way to accurately translate any of them. However, the examples below show common translations for each of these grammatical principles in use:

내가 입은 바지 = the pants I wore
내가 입던 바지 = the pants I used to wear (I find this translation particularly insufficient)
내가 입었던 바지 = the pants I had worn

Here is an image that I drew to show the picture I have in my head of each one placed along a timeline. I also included other additions that you learned in Lesson 26:

I deliberately didn’t include English translations because using words to describe when the pants are worn in either language heavily depends on the context of the sentence. Also notice that I included an exclamation mark “!” for the last two to depict that there is a feeling that those actions are being recalled from experience.

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Describing Past Tense with ~던 and ~았/었던 (Adjectives)

I think you might be comfortable with this now. Unfortunately, we need to discuss how ~던 and ~았/었던 can be added to adjectives.

As you know, adding ~ㄴ/은 to an adjective allows you to describe a noun. For example:

예쁜 여자 = (a) pretty girl

Although “예쁜” is indicating that the girl is currently pretty, we can infer that she also was pretty in the past. Most of the time, if a noun is described a certain way by an adjective in the present; the same could be true of that noun in the past.

Earlier in the lesson you learned about adding ~았/었던 to verbs. ~았/었던 can also be added to adjectives, and it has a similar function as when used with verbs. When used with a verb, the speaker is indicating that the action happened in the past, but has since finished and does not occur anymore.

If you attach ~았/었던 to an adjective to describe a noun, you are indicating that the noun was that way in the past, but is no longer that way anymore. For example, think about how unfortunate of a situation this would be:

예뻤던 여자

This would indicate that this girl was (or “had been”) pretty. However her being “pretty” has finished and she is no longer pretty anymore. The use of ~더~ also carries this “remembering/recalling” from experience subtlety. As you know, I hate translating these types of constructions; but if I were to translate the construction above:

예뻤던 여자 = The girl who I recall being pretty, but is not pretty anymore

Up until now, I have been able to describe the subtle difference in nuance between ~ㄴ/은, ~던 and ~았/었던 when added to verbs.

I have also been able to describe the subtle difference in nuance between ~ㄴ/은 and ~았/었던 when added to adjectives.

Adding ~던 to an adjective is possible but is very confusing.

I had a lengthy discussion with a Korean grammar teacher recently. After writing everything you see above (i.e. this whole lesson until now) I discussed every point with her to hear her opinion about my observations. We discussed the differences between ~ㄴ/은, ~던 and ~았/었던 when added to verbs. We then talked about ~ㄴ/은 and ~았/었던 when added to adjectives.

All of this led me to this question:

“If ~던 is added to verbs to indicate that one ‘remembers/recalls’ an action occurring repeatedly in the past and continuing to the present, how can this meaning be transferred to adjectives?”

I figured this would not make sense, but I showed her this construction:

예쁘던 여자

She said that this would not be used. She then said that it would be incorrect to add “~던” directly to adjectives because an adjective can’t “occur” repeatedly in the past. Puzzled, I looked at her and said “absolutely, ~던 can be added to adjectives.” She challenged me and said “okay, come up with a situation where ~던 can be added to an adjective.”

Remember, this conversation happened between a Korean person who, as her profession, teaches Korean language to Korean high school students and a dude from Canada.

The example is a little bit above your level, but I started singing the song “나에게 넌” in front of her:

소중했던 우리 푸르던 날을 기억하며
우~~후회없이 그림처럼 남아주기를
나에게 넌 내 외롭던 지난 시간을

Notice that ~던 is added directly to two adjectives in the short lyrics above. It is attached to 푸르다 in the first line and to 외롭다 in the third line. The first word, 소중하다 has ~았/었던 attached.

After she heard my amazing singing, she realized she was wrong. She then thought about it more and said that adding ~던 to an adjective has the same meaning as when adding ~았/었던, but the latter would be much more common.

I figured that explanation was nonsense. There is no way that ~았/었던 and ~던 could have identical meaning. The only reason why I’m sharing this story with you is so you can realize that even Korean people, including those you would call “experts” in their own language, have a hard time distinguishing these things.

I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on ~던 being attached to adjectives and how I can present it to you. It’s not that simple because when used separated from a sentence just shown with one noun, it often sounds very unnatural. For example:

예쁜 여자 = the pretty girl
예뻤던 여자 = the girl who I recall being pretty, but is not pretty anymore
예쁘던 여자 – Grammatically this is correct, but Korean people would tell you that this would never be said

However, there are cases where the adjective and noun being used could make it appropriate. For example:

시끄러운 교실 = the noisy classroom

시끄러웠던 교실 = the classroom that I recall being noisy, but is not noisy anymore

시끄럽던 교실 – This construction is possible. Although the “repeated” function of ~던 can’t really be applied, the function of indicating that something occurs to the present tense can be applied. If you said “시끄럽던 교실” to a Korean person, they would assume that the classroom loud up until the present, but it just stopped being loud. If we compare this to “시끄러웠던 교실,” Korean people would say that the classroom was loud further in the past, and there is a gap between when it stopped being loud until the present.

This could explain why a construction like “예쁘던 여자” would be unnatural. It’s not really possible for you to recognize that a girl was pretty in the past, and notice that this continues all the way until present and for her to all of a sudden not be pretty anymore. However, it could be possible (however unfortunate) for a girl to have been pretty in the past, and for some time to pass, and then (presumably during that time period) for the girl to stop being pretty.

Because of this, I can use some adjectives to describe some nouns using ~던, but it wouldn’t be appropriate with others. For example:

Again, please don’t pay too much attention to the English translations:

조용하던 길 = The street that I recall being quiet until now
따뜻하던 날씨 = The weather that I recall being warm until now
맑던 하늘 = The sky that I recall being clear until now

There is something that I want to discuss in the midst of all of this confusion. In most cases – in both English or in Korean (or in any language, I guess), these subtle differences don’t need to be distinguished. For example, if I said:

“The clear sky became dark”

Was the sky clear until the present and then became dark?
Was the sky clear sometime in the past and then became dark sometime in the past?
Was the sky clear sometime in the past and then became dark in the present?
Was the sky clear every day (habitually) before becoming dark?
Will the sky become clear again after becoming dark?

The answer to all of these questions – and any other questions you can think of – is irrelevant. As learners of Korean, we often find ourselves overthinking things and getting worked up over the meaning of something away from context. In reality, context will usually explain everything for you. For example, look at the ambiguous way that I describe “the sky” (하늘) in the following example:

맑? 하늘이 갑자기 어두워졌어요

Regardless of what replaces the “?” in the example above, the context from the rest of the sentence would be able to clarify the meaning and result of the sentence for you. Much like how the English sentences below, in effect, have the same result:

The sky that was clear all of a sudden became dark
The sky that had been clear all of a sudden became dark
The sky that used to be clear all of a sudden became dark
The sky that is habitually clear all of a sudden became dark
The sky that I recall being clear all of a sudden became dark

———————————–

That’s as far as I’m going to go. As I said at the beginning of this lesson – the difference between ~던 and ~았/었던 (compared with other grammatical principles that you learned in the previous lesson) is very confusing. If you have reached this point and think to yourself “I am still a little bit unclear of the difference” – Congratulations! You’re just like a typical Korean person.

As I have discussed, Korean people – including those who you would consider “experts” in their own language – can’t describe the difference precisely. I hope that you have enjoyed my discussion about these, and I hope that you are able to distinguish them a little bit.

Above all, I hope that this lesson hasn’t completely turned you off of Korean forever!

That’s it!

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